They make better nusses'n men. Mebbe--mebbe Sis'll be gettin'
married some day, an' I tell ye a little doctorin' know-how is mighty
handy in a house. A doctor an' a lawyer, now, would be a gret team, right
in the fambly, like. Well, Sis, we'll see; we'll see."
I knew that the matter was practically settled; and there was little sleep
for me, or for any one, that night in the old farm-house.
I stayed at home until September, and then one morning Father drove me
again to the little yellow station whose door opens wide upon all the
world.
"Well, good-by, Helen 'Lizy," he said.
"Good-by, Father."
For weeks I had been eager to be off, but as the train began to move and I
looked back at his patient figure--he made no more show of his deep
emotion than if the parting were for a day--a big lump rose in my throat
at leaving him and Ma--old before their time with toil and privation and
planning and striving for me.
I knew how lonely it would be in the sitting room that night without me.
Father with closed eyes jogging away in his chair, Mother bolt upright and
thin and prim, forever at her knitting or sewing; no sound but the chair
and the ticking clock upon the shelf--that night and every night.
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